Subject A6: The Hope

Chapter 9: Fallen Friends... Part 1

Thomas POV:

'Thomas... remember... WICKED is good... remember Thomas... WICKED is-' "Thomas, get up," a deep voice whispered in my ear, causing me to jump up in my hammock, panting as sweat dripped down my forehead. 

I looked to my side to see Alby looking at me with confusion in his eyes. I shook it off before speaking. "What are you doing here, Alby?" I asked, curiously building up inside of me. Alby shushed me, signalling for me to be quiet so we could avoid waking up any of the other Gladers who were currently passed out on the floor next to me or n the rooms above. 

Alby didn't speak, instead, he led me over to the walls that I had been so intrigued by since the get-go. I looked around, admiring the surrounding woods and greenery that enclosed us. Alby rested his hand on my shoulder, pulling me from my thoughts. 

"In this place, there are only 3 rules. Rule number 1, do your part. You can't just sit still and look pretty, you've gotta pull your weight just like the rest of us," he explained, looking at me as we walked towards a wall filled with names.

 I looked at it with a sense of curiosity building up from within me. I admired the horrible handwriting that painted the walls like some sort of unique mural or piece of art. It looked as though every person who had ever entered this wretched place had carved their name on these large, concrete slabs. 

 "Rule number 2, never harm another Glader. We need to be able to trust and rely on one another." He continued to explain. He quickly bent down and grabbed what looked to be a dagger of some sort from the inside of his sock. 

I watched as he spun the dagger through his fingers, sliding the sharp blade between them swiftly. I looked as he swiped his hand across some of the names, a look of nostalgia swirling in his deep, chocolate eyes. 

'Rule number 3; and this is the most important rule; never. go. beyond. those walls. Are we clear?" Alby asked, looking at me with a stern gaze. I gulped, nodding my head as he smiled, nodding along with me. Alby then placed the dagger in my hand, pushing it towards my chest.

 "Now, this is a tradition of ours; sort of marks the Nebiew, or as we like to call them, 'Greenie' as a part of our family. You carve your name into this wall; you're one of us." He smiled, showing me the wall filled with the names of people that have been here. What I realised was that some names were crossed out. 

"Why did you cross out some of the names?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Alby sighed, his eyes holding great sorrow before he spoke. "As I've said before Thomas, not everyone is lucky around here..." He sighed before stepping aside, leaving me to carve my name into the wall.

After officially becoming one of the Gladers, I looked to see a few people running towards the walls. In the huddle of people, I spotted the girl that Newt was with the other night, smiling and laughing along with another boy, who I think was Minho.

 "Hey, Tommy! Over here!" Her sweet voice cheered, shaking me from my thoughts. I smiled, walking over to the cheerful-looking girl. "Hey, Y/n, right?" I asked, blushing when she giggled and nodded along. "Are you going for a run now?" I asked, looking around to see the darkness that was the Maze corridor. 

"Yup! We're gonna go on a quick run and be back before dinner. Have fun picking a job~" She teased, smirking as she, Minho and Ben did a weird-looking handshake before taking off into the Maze, running at what felt like lightning speed.

 I sighed, remembering that I had to try out some jobs today as they had mentioned when first arrived as she and Chuck had given me the tour. "Hey, Tommy! come here!" Newts thick Brtish accent called out to me, causing me to turn around and walk over to him as he smiled, leading me to my first job: The builders. The minute I saw Gally's smug face, I knew I was screwed. 'This is gonna be a long day...'

Minho's POV:

I laughed, racing against Y/N as we ran through the large Maze, twisting and turning every 10 seconds. "Since when are you so slow, Minhoe~" She teased, giggling as we continued to run to our designated area. I groaned, shaking my head as I picked up speed, trying to catch up. 

Once we had reached Section 5, the place we needed to run so we could 'map' it out once we got back, I heaved, dropping onto the concrete floor as I panted, chugging the small pouch of water I had packed. Y/N smirked, stretching as she leaned against a wall, pretending to look bored; just to get a reaction out of me, and sadly, it was kind of working.

"You okay, Minmin? I never knew you could be so slow~" Y/N giggled, taking a seat next to me. I glared playfully before chuckling along with her. Y/n smiled, sitting next to me as I rested my head on hers whilst she laid softly on my shoulder. I smiled, taking a bite out of my stale, bland sandwich, watching as Y/N devoured her apple.

 I smirked as she wiped the juice trailing down her chin, causing her to start glaring at my teasing look. "Damn, does Newt see you eat like that? How attractive~" I laughed, causing her to playfully slap my chest. We continued to have a few good laughs before we had to get up and complete our daily run. 

After grabbing our things and finishing off our boring and mundane routine of a run, we made our way back towards the main path that led back to the Glade. As we were running, we spotted Ben on our way. He looked slightly tired and pale. I gulped nervously, millions of thoughts running through my head as we gained speed. 

"Bennie, you okay?" Y/N asked, running up next to him. Ben nodded, not uttering a word to either of us before bolting past the walls and straight into the Deadlands. I looked at Y/N, both of us equally confused and worried for our friend. It looked as though he had been through hell or something. If only we knew just how right we were...

THat's part 1, you guys! Sorry, it took so long for me to update this, kinda slipped my mind. Whoops~ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please remember to vote and comment!! Until next time~